{"id":308138,"date":"2023-06-15T02:56:45","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T02:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=308138"},"modified":"2023-06-15T04:59:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T04:59:14","slug":"aussie-champ-whacks-has-been-rival-as-fight-called-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=308138","title":{"rendered":"Aussie champ whacks 'has-been' rival as fight called off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aussie champion \ufeffJai Opetaia's<\/a> title defence against Mateusz Masternak is off, with the Queenslander accusing the Polish boxer of refusing to fight.<\/p>\n

\ufeffOpetaia claimed the International Boxing Federation<\/a> (IBF) world title over Mairis Breidis on the Gold Coast last July.<\/p>\n

He has been plagued by injuries since the bout and hasn't fought again.\ufeff<\/p>\n

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The IBF delayed its call to order the fight with Masternak when Opetaia was granted a 60-day medical extension to recover from shoulder surgery earlier this year.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/jaiopetaia1\/status\/1669156315082674188?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/ben_damon\/status\/1669140403663306753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

That exemption expired on June 1, with the sanctioning body then calling for purse bids, but Masternak pulled out altogether.<\/p>\n

Opetaia was due 65 per cent of the winning bid, while the remaining 35 per cent would have gone to Masternak as the No.1 contender.<\/p>\n

Opetaia took a swipe at the Polish fighter on social media, calling for a unification fight with new WBO champ Chris Billam-Smith.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffWhat a waste of time. He used to be a good fighter, now he's a has-been," Opetaia said of Masternak.<\/p>\n

"I would've retired him. If you don't want the smoke, why waste the last few months talking shit?"<\/p>\n

In a twist, Billam-Smith is now reportedly set to defend his belt against Masternak, while the IBF is set to name No.2 contender Richard Riakporhe as Opetaia's new mandatory.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Opetaia has been out of the ring since he won the lineal and IBF cruiserweight championship following a 12-round unanimous decision victory over three-time cruiserweight champ Briedis.<\/p>\n

Since then, Opetaia has experienced some trouble outside the ring\ufeff, along with the injuries that have cruelled the Aussie's chance to defend his belt.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aussie champion \ufeffJai Opetaia's title defence against Mateusz Masternak is off, with the Queenslander accusing the Polish boxer of refusing to fight. \ufeffOpetaia claimed the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":308140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308138"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=308138"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308141,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308138\/revisions\/308141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/308140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=308138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=308138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=308138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}